152 BOARD OF AGllICULTURE. 



richness and luxuriance of the grasses upon which thej feed. These 

 examples, with similar ones that I have met in other places widely 

 remote, would seem to shed light upon the perplexing question so 

 often asked, ' How shall I reclaim my old pasture'?' All over New 

 England there are thousands of acres producing little or nothing, 

 that might be renovated by the introduction of sheep upon them, 

 while the profits from the sheep themselves I believe would be larger 

 than from the same amount of money invested in cows. I have been 

 told of an instance where a hundred acre pasture fed scantily only 

 twelve sheep and six cows the first year, but on the second summer 

 fed well twenty sheep and twelve cows, and continued to increase in 

 fertility until more than double this number were well fed upon it." 

 Appended, are extracts from the statements of cultivators in vari- 

 ous parts of the State, giving their opinions on grass culture and 

 hay harvesting, in reply to a circular of inquiry sent out last spring. 

 To have inserted all which has been received, would involve much 

 of repetition and make the report more voluminous than is deemed 

 desirable. Care has been taken to report all opinions at variance 

 with the methods of practice advocated in the preceeding pages. 



By E. B. Randall, Limixgton". 



" Spring, and as early as the land can be worked to advantage, 

 is the best time for seeding down with grass ; then the grass has 

 time to get well rooted before dry hot weather, which frequently 

 kills late sowed. Spring sowing is more likely to live through the 

 winter than fall sowing. Clover sowed in the fall is almost certain 

 to winter kill. When land is well worked in the spring it is light, 

 and grass roots will grow with grain roots soon enough to hold it 

 from falling. 



I think it best to sow with grain, and choose barley or wheat. 

 By sowing grass seed with grain, they form a sward in a few days, 

 sufficient to keep the land from falling heavy, which is a great ben- 

 efit to grass in after years, and by sowing grain and grass together 

 we get a crop of grain (or straAv) the first year, and grass has the 

 benefit of the straw stubble and the lightness which it has main- 

 tained during its growth. 



My mode of curing hcrdsgrass or fine hay, is to mow it in the 

 forenoon and spread it when the dew is off, and rake and cock it in 

 the afternoon, if it gets dry enough ; but if not, wc turn it up, if 



